BEKI Kids

Matok @ BEKI News

Matok is young children’s programming at BEKI. Matok means “sweet” in Hebrew, and we hope that our programming brings sweetness to your world!

In This Edition

• Saturday Morning: Shabbat Children’s Services
• Kids’ Summer Hebrew Classes at BEKI with Morah Sharon–Final Deadline July 2
• New Shabbat Morning Service Leader Rotation—Check For Your Name!
• Bring Meals to Families with New Babies–Gordon-Winter Family
• Shalom Baby Group is On The Go This Summer
• Fun with the Parsha: Sh’lach

* Saturday Morning: Shabbat Children’s Services

Shabbat Children’s Services will meet in their regular rooms:

Children’s Havura (Birth-Preschool) meets inside in the preschool classroom.

K-2 Kehila (Kindergarten-2nd Grade) meets in Classroom 6.

Junior Congregation (3rd-6th Grade) meets in the library.

* Kids’ Summer Hebrew Classes at BEKI with Morah Sharon—Final Deadline July 2

BINA’s own Morah Sharon Naveh will be teaching Hebrew classes for rising 3rd-5th graders on Monday afternoons at 4:45 pm at BEKI July 8-August 12. There are just a few spots left.  If you would like to sign your child up, please email morahsharonn@gmail.com by July 2nd.  For those who would like to sign up their younger children (rising K-2nd) for Hebrew classes, we have almost enough families to open up a class.  If you are interested, please email morahsharonn@gmail.comas well.

* New Shabbat Morning Service Leader Rotation—Check For Your Name

Attached to this email is the new Service Leader Rotation for our parent-led, Shabbat morning children’s services. Check for your name on the new rotation, and let me know if you have a conflict with your date. (If you’ve already contacted me about a change in date, this version of the rotation is not yet updated.)

If you have never led a Shabbat morning children’s service before and would like to, let me know! We love new leaders, and parents tell me that it is a fun and meaningful experience.

Thank you to every family who helps make our Shabbat morning services for children so warm and enjoyable!

* Bring Meals to Families with New Babies–Gordon-Winter Family

First-time parents Daniel Gordon and Lea Winter have welcomed a baby daughter! Let’s welcome her to the world through the longstanding and much appreciated BEKI tradition of providing meals to families with new babies.

Sign up to bring a meal to the Gordon-Winters at https://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/625635/ For questions please email Rachel Greenberg at rachel.d.greenberg@gmail.com

* Shalom Baby Group is On The Go This Summer

Instead of meeting at the JCC this summer, this fun, supportive baby group is “on the go” to different hosts, in homes, parks, and throughout the Jewish community. Contact Kayla Bisbee at kbisbee@jewishnewhaven.org to sign up for updates!

Find your new forever friends in a comfortable environment with music, coffee, conversation – and babies. Recommended for parents from pregnancy to two years old.

This group is free to attend and brought to you by Shalom Baby, an initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven’s Women’s Philanthropy—designed to welcome Jewish babies and their families to the Jewish community in the Greater New Haven area. Please do not attend if you are unwell or have been exposed to sickness to keep our smallest members safe and healthy.

* Fun with the Parsha: Sh’lach

The name of this week’s parsha, Sh’lach, means “send,” and it tells the story of sending spies ahead into the Land of Israel, and what they found there.

The Israelites send twelve spies into the land to report back on what they see. Will the land promised by God be a good place to live? Israel certainly turns out to be an unusual and special place. The spies report that everything seems bigger there; they bring back a bunch of grapes so big it has to be carried by two people. (This is a wonderful image that has even appeared on a modern Israeli stamp!)

Ten of the spies tell their story in a way that emphasizes fear. The people who live in the land are too big and scary. There’s no way that the Israelites can move there.

But two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, tell the story in a way that emphasizes courage. There is nothing so challenging about this new land that the Israelites could not make a home there with God’s help.

Who do you think God rewards by making them the next generation of leaders for the Jewish people? Joshua and Caleb of course! Their bravery, and trust in God, shows that they will be able to help lead and encourage others.

Annie Norman-Schiff